XANA's Secret
by SlightlyOdd13
Summary: Find out the true story of that menacing virus (that being said I don't own CL). This is the sequel to Lyoko Hacked, but you don't have to read that one first, if you haven't already, it will still make sense. Evolution kinda spoilers! Gotta at least know who Tyron is to read this. Other than all that, enjoy! On hiatus, sorry. But I promise to finish it one day!
1. Chapter 1

{Intro Author's Note}

The theory this story revolves around is one long believed in my family. Ever since I was little and the show came out, I would watch Code Lyoko with my parents. When seasons 2 and 3 came out, my dad, being the person he is, devised a theory on how XANA really came to be. Now, with evolution out and the idea been proven wrong, I figured I may as well share it anyways. I hope you enjoy my family's version of how it all came down. Oh and please review!

~START~

Another summer had come an passed for the boarding students of Kadic academy, who were all but anticipating the start of the next year. Two more days and everything would resume back to its usual state, but what the students never stopped to think about was that things were always changing. And this year would be no exception.

For some students this year would mean their graduation, for sometime would be the completion of a freshman year, and for most it would just be another one of those years at Kadic.

The average Kadic student was just that, an average student, but six of these kids were in over their heads in heroism and danger, which I won't go off to explain. But the thing was that lately there hadn't been much heroism or danger. These six (Aelita, Ulrich, Jeremie, William, Odd and Yumi), had experienced a strangely quiet Summer holiday, appart from one incident, which although had shaken them up, had now been almost forgotten about.

A few weeks into the summer they had a predicament which required them to, for a second time, team up with one of their enemies in order to protect the greater good of the world from a different villainous force. A man named Tyron, of undetermined government affiliations, is determined to reek havoc on a certain virtual environment, including Lyoko. This is a five sector world accessible only through the futuristic mechanisms in the old abandoned factory, which the gang has essentially marked as home base. Surrounding this world are multiple others, a good portion of which the Lyoko gang probably don't know exist, but they feel they've identified all the segnificant ones.

In the past, the Lyoko kids have tried to wipe out all the other worlds, single sector replicas of lyoko, in fear that they would be used for malicious reasons by an equally malicious virus, XANA. Though they succeeded in that, they have since found a more mysterious sector named the Cortex, supposedly belonging to one Proffessor Tyron. After making it apparent he and XANA were not allied, he promptly decided that the Lyoko warriors were public enemy number 1.

This was the reason he had jeopardized Lyoko earlier this summer. Namely to eliminate his two biggest threats which coincidentally both reside in said virtual world. Regardless of the rocky start, the Lyoko gang were able to team up with XANA and restore relative harmony to Lyoko. Ever since then they hadn't heard anything from each other, which was the way they both liked it.

On earth the gang was functioning normally, and had just seen the return of William who had gone to Mexico with his parents, completely missing the little dilemma with Lyoko and Tyron. While they had filled him in on what little they bothered to remember, a certain bunch of thoughts reentered Aelita's mind. She had thought about this for a whole two or three days after the incident, and now she was thinking about it again. She was thinking about XANA.

It had been only two hours of a single day, but the endeavor seemed somehow longer, not to mention really eye-opening, at least for Aelita. It made her think about XANA's point of view, and the virus in general. Sometimes, XANA seemed to have a grasp on things that went further than just mechanically coded. He seemed to sometimes know and express a variety of different emotions and moods which was, in her opinion, quite extraordinary for just a computer program. She sometimes wondered if he made a better ally or a better enemy.

Aelita sighed to herself. It didn't really matter what she thought, they were enemies and that was that. What happened before was a once—twice— in a lifetime occasion.

Was it bad that she wanted to make peace with her lifelong enemy? What would the others think?

Rising from a chair she had been perched on, she snorted to herself. It wasn't like she was going to tell them. And besides, XANA was her ENEMY. There were no two sides about it.

XANA was evil. Countless times he had endangered her friends, and the world, and had compromised so many situations she couldn't even begin to count. It made her head spin just thinking about all the possible crimes he had committed—not to mention probable broken laws— but luckily for him, not only was he just a computer virus, but also return trips to the past were usually cast, to prevent the world from further damage, or questions asked.

And so, the psychopathic virus remained unknown by the world. But, nobody knew what was about to happen, not even XANA. Things had been set into motion, and nothing could stop them. Fate was a cruel force, and a fickle one, tending to the equivillance in the world and the fact that there were no coincidences. Everything happened for a reason. Everything would be revealed, once the time came. And for XANA, the time was definitely coming...

~END~


	2. Chapter 2

"Done already?" Odd asked Aelita who had just gotten up from her chair.

She seemed to have been just been snapped out of a daze. "Hmm? Oh, um, yeah. Why? Did you want to play another round?"

Odd jumped up from his chair cheerfully and shook his head. "That's ok. I think I've got to go take Kiwi for a walk anyhow." He wandered off, out of the rec room.

Aelita cleaned up their game of checkers and went over to see how the foosball championship was coming. On one side of the table stood Yumi and William with matching looks of slightly fiendish delight, and on the other stood Jeremie and Ulrich both jockeying for position with concerned looks.

Rhetorically, Aelita asked, "Who's winning?"

"Guess," Ulrich scoffed.

Yumi laughed, "One more point and we win the second game in a row!"

For a minute or so they played in silence, except for the grunting and groaning, the whir of the spinning game pieces, and the tv blaring in the background.

The subtle clink of the ball against the inside of the boys' goal ended the game, and sent Yumi and William celebrating.

"Yes!" Yumi jumped up.

William high-fived her. "Yeah!"

"Aww," Jeremie looked disappointed.

"Well I've got to say, you sure have practiced," Ulrich admitted defeat.

Yumi smiled triumphantly.

Beep beep beep beep!

A small alarm-like noise coming from the inside of Jeremie's backpack made them temporarily forget about their game victories and losses.

"Uh-oh," Jeremie rushed over and pulled something out of his bag.

"Is that what I think it is?" Aelita asked, following him and looking over his shoulder as he opened up his laptop and stopped the beeping.

Ulrich chuckled. "It's been so long we can hardly tell."

They all crowded around Jeremie as his fingers flew across the keyboard. "Yup. XANA alert."

"That figures. There was no way XANA was going to let us be normal kids forever. I guess this is how long we can go without an attack before he gets mad. I'll get Odd," Yumi turned around to go after him.

"Wait," William stopped her. "What's the point? There's five of us already going so it would be better if Odd stays here to fend off the attack, whatever it is."

"Yeah, ok," Yumi slipped out her phone. "I'll drop him a text."

"What are we waiting for?" Jeremie asked, sliding his laptop in his bag and swinging it over his shoulder.

"He's right. Let's go," Ulrich lead the way and they all followed out the door of the rec room.

William was just about to exit when he noticed there was still one lyoko Warrior left. "Coming Aelita?"

"Yeah, I'm right behind you," Aelita sighed to herself and hurried to catch up to the others. Deactivating towers just didn't seem the same now. The thrill was gone for her, probably because XANA didn't feel like her enemy anymore, but she followed them down into the sewer anyways. She would just have to live duty over feelings.

• • •

The gang was transferred into lyoko and were met with a familiar expanse of dry and sunny desert. Good to be home, some would say, but these guys were for the most part just ready to kick butt, deactivate the tower, and go on with life.

"So, where are the monster?" William looked around the sector with sword drawn.

"Jeremie, do you see anything?" Ulrich called to the sky.

"No, there's nothing here either," Jeremie replied from the computer lab.

"This is way too easy. It must be a trap," Yumi decided.

"Definitely," Ulrich agreeded, unsheathing his sabers.

Cautiosly they proceeded, covering Aelita from all sides.

"Careful guys, it could be anything," Jeremie warned, clicking madly.

For a little while they crept along, scanning the sector for disturbances— any disturbances at all— and upon not finding any, they let their guard down.

"What's going on here? Did XANA forget the welcoming committee?" Ulrich wondered aloud.

"If there isn't anything to stop us, then go deactivate the tower Aelita," William suggested.

She shrugged. "Okay," starting off to the tower she wondered what was going on with XANA. Why would he activate a tower but not leave monsters to guard it?

While the other three twiddled their thumbs, still confused by the lack of action, Aelita took her time entering the tower. Chances were if there wasn't any monsters here then earth was probably safe too.

The whole time lost in thought, she floated up the tower gracefully and did a little flip before landing on the top platform. Placing her hand automatically on the interface, she barely watched her name spell out across it, and then the Code: Lyoko.

After bumbling on about something Aelita didn't bother to listen to, Jeremie brought them in. By that time, Aelita figured she had a pretty good idea why XANA had done what he had done.

~END~

Please review! Btw, yes, that magnificent cover was designed and hand-draw by yours truly. Hope you like it, and the chapter.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, Aelita woke up to her cell phone ringing. It was still dark outside and the room glowed eerily with the light of the phone when she grabbed it.

"Hello?"

"Morning. We've got another XANA attack. Meet at the factory," Ulrich's scruffy voice suggested he had just been roused also, and she could hear a few little yips from Kiwi in the background.

"Ok, thanks. Bye," Aelita mumbled into her phone before hanging up.

She let out a stifled sigh and rubbed her eyes. Rolling out of bed she was met with cold floor under her feet that sent a chill up her spine. Just another reason to ignore the supposed attack and catch up on the sleep she'd been lacking. Despite the cold night air and her invitingly warm blanket making it even harder for her to slip on a thin hoodie, and side her feet into her boots, that's exactly what she did. Upon meeting the chilly night air she wrapped her coat tighter and scurried through the empty school yard.

Too bad, she thought to herself, tearing the cover off the manhole. If it wasn't locked she might have usd the way via the boiler room.

She sighed again. This was going to be a long morning.

• • •

Once Aelita got to the factory everyone else was already there and the virtualization process was speedily typed in. When they were materialized into the ice sector they realized they were not alone, for once.

"Whoa," Ulrich sided-up their towering opponent. Two brown stumpy legs held up a shell-like body or head, on which was engraved the tell-all eye of XANA.

"What is that thing?" William asked, luckily the thing hadn't noticed them yet.

"It doesn't matter what it is, it's how do we kill it?" Odd corrected, remembering the monster from their previous encounter, but choosing not to voice it. He figured it was irrelevant to the current task at hand.

"I-I don't know," Jeremie stammered. "The supercomputer doesn't have any information on this thing, i-it's like it's new to the whole system. The only thing I can tell you for sure is that it has more hit points that any other monster you've encountered."

Aelita snorted to herself. That was kind of obvious considering its impressive size, and also new species almost always had a(n) HP upgrade. Aelita of course, knew it was a Volcanoid.

"Lets stop standing here like party poopers and go introduce ourselves," Odd suggested, obviously his sense of humor never takes a nap.

They ran towards the monster until it noticed them, and when it turned around they began attacking it, jumping into battle positions, with weapons at the ready.

"That's right big guy, get over here and hand out hugs," William ran up to it and with his sword, swung down hard on it's shell.

From further away, Odd shot rapidly but he didn't notice the Volcaniod firing a shot straight for him until it was too late. The lazer hit the ground and made a small explosion upon impact that took Odd by surprise.

"Whoa!" The next thing he knew he was soaring through the air and came crashing down on solid ice.

"Odd, 10 life points left," Jeremie sounded just a little panicked.

"What? Already? Boy this guy sure packs a punch, but don't worry he's still no match for me," The giant purple cat picked himself up off the ground and four-legged hopped back to the battle sight.

"Bombs," Aelita whispered to herself. Having watched that little exchange, she had realized that XANA was using his 2.0 version.

Next to be heroic was Yumi, who threw both her fans violently at the monster, and yet they seemed to bounce off as if they were being reflected, as if... Aelita quickly figured out that the energy field she had been reluctant to fire would make no difference, it wouldn't hurt the Volcanoid. 2.0 version equals force fields.

"Jeremie! There's something wrong," Ulrich slashed and sliced at the eye on the Volcanoid to no avail. "My sword can't get into it."

From that point in Aelita knew she was pretty much the only one who could get the job done. She began jogging over to Ulrich, letting her energy field melt into thin air. Lucky for the rest of them, she was a good observer and even better at remembering things.

"Ulrich, gimme a hug," Aelita said wrapping her arms around him. Ulrich was, to say the least, petrified with surprise not to mention complete and utter confusion. But lucky for Aelita he only had one sword in his hand.

The hug lasted probably half a second, because that's how long it took for Aelita to steal his other sword, the one which was previously sheathed and on his back.

"Oy!" Aelita walked casually closer to the Volcanoid, trying to get its attention. She waved her arms, and the sword, in the air and whistled to it like it was a dog, but it was kind of occupied.

The Volcanoid had just finished shooting another pesky, and almost un-dodgeable explosive at Yumi and Odd when his attention was caught by a little pink-haired elf.

"Aelita?" William asked in a confused tone, as if asking, _are you crazy?_

"What are you doing?!" Jeremie sounded pretty stressed out as he yelled through the intercom. "That's not a good idea! Aelita!"

She didn't especially listen as she tried to coax the Volcanoid to shoot at her. "Come on! Come and get me!"

Not long after, the monster took a step forwards and fired a thick laser straight at Aelita. As it raced towards her she brought up the sword and deflected the shot off it, straight back to the Volcanoid, where it exploded. With her free hand, she shot a small energy field at the monster, which made it die and devirtualize.

She knew the other four—five including Jeremie— were staring at her, jaws dropped to the ground in amazement, but she didn't really take notice as she approached the tower.

Aelita deactivated the tower and headed back to school without saying much to anyone else, although they had been asking questions like mad.

"How did you do that?"

"That was amazing!"

"How did you know what to do?"

She replied with the crudest answers, just enough to get them off her case. "It's a long story, I'll explain later. Good night." And that was it before retiring back to her dorm.

It hadn't been anything special anyways. The plan was to deactivate the tower and she had done just that. So what was the big deal?

~END~

A/N:

Ok, the weirdest thing happened to me today. I went for a picnic with my family today and there was this guy there that looked so much like Gulliver Bevernage! No joke! The only difference was that this kid's hair was black instead of blonde, and it was in a Mohawk.

Anyways, please review! ;)


	4. Chapter 4

The next day, school had finally resumed, and everyone was crowded around the principal's office, getting their class schedule. On some unprecedented streak of luck, Odd, Aelita, Jeremie and Ulrich were all in the same class again, and William and Yumi were also in a class together.

After the first day, which was really more orientation than anything, the gang was treated to another XANA attack, which reminded them of some unanswered questions of the previous morning.

"How did you know how to kill that thing yesterday?" Ulrich asked Aelita as they walked across the bridge to the factory.

"Yeah, that was pretty wicked!" Odd exclaimed.

"It's not really important," Aelita mumbled.

"It's important to us, we want to know," explained Yumi.

"Yeah, out with it," Jeremie was probably most curious of all, considering that the whole time he had been cooped up in a scanner —nearly dead— unbeknown to the action going on in Lyoko.

She sighed. "The monster we fought yesterday was called a Volcanoid, version 2.0 to be exact. It was one of XANA's prototype monsters that he kept locked in the Volcano Replika, although it seems that now he's brought it out into the big leagues. Virtually indestructible, unless you get the shield down, which can only be done by reflecting one of its own shots. After that it takes one shot, so long as you don't miss. It's actual hit points are really minimal, but the shield layer boosts it up."

"You sure seem to know a lot about that thing," William pointed out. To some that might have seemed a bit suspicious, himself included.

"Oh, um, yeah, I guess so," Aelita admitted. "It's probably just 'cause I had to team up with him to save the others." _And what happens in the Volcano Replika stays in the Volcano Replika._

"Speaking of which, what took you do long?" Odd inquired.

"Well it wasn't exactly easy," Aelita reminded, but with a playful tone in her voice.

"Really? Why not?" William asked.

"Yeah, you never did tell us much about your side of the story," mentioned Ulrich.

"Well," It was all but decided and Aelita couldn't help it. She began to explain her story as they continued into the factory, down the ropes, into the elevator and finally to the scanners. By this time the gang had a good sense of what had happened while they were trapped in Tyron's evil clutches.

"Wow! He really took you to his hide out in sector 5?" Odd was ecstatic, almost sad to be entering a scanner and leaving behind Aelita the storyteller.

"Yeah," she laughed. _He reminds me of me when I was there; All eyes._

"That's actually pretty neat," Yumi added, stepping into a scanner of her own.

Aelita was about to answer but was cut off. "Sorry to disturb your lovely conversation but may I remind you there's still a tower to deactivate?" Jeremie sounded slightly a little annoyed.

"Ok, ok, Einstein, cool it. The tower's not going anywhere," Ulrich mumbled, hopping into the last scanner.

"Mmmhmm. And by the sound of it neither are you. Get ready," Jeremie got busy.

The virtualization process was quickly put onto effect, and the warriors soon found themselves on the battle grounds of the desert sector. A tower straight ahead and two lonely krabes circling it as if they were vultures looking for their next snack.

Although, they weren't vultures. As a matter of fact they were chopped, sliced and ready to be added to California rolls in just a few minutes, courtesy of the Lyoko gang.

In and out, real easy. The tower deactivation was so simple it was strange, and the gang finally started to notice it, but still no solid decisions were made, which urked Aelita.

• • •

Later that day, at dinner time to be precise, Aelita stepped out of her room and strolled down the hallway. She followed the staircase down and around, passing the first floor before continuing. Only this time she didn't continue down to the ground level.

Once she hit the first floor landing, she started down the hallway. This was the boys' floor. With each step, she began putting less and less weight on her heel, walking more on the ball of her foot. She had found it to be an effective way to muffle her footsteps until you almost couldn't hear them.

Aelita crept down the empty hallway, becoming alert to any and every noise, as she approached a certain door, which seemed slightly ajar. Whether that would turn out to be a good thing or a bad one, she didn't care, she was already here. What she thought should be done would be done, tonight.

At the door now, she put her ear to it, careful not to make it swing shut, and she listened.

Click. Click click. Click. Click.

Jeremie's fingers, as usual, occupied the rather loud keys of his computer's keyboard, the monitor's subtle but constant hum acting as the cherry on top.

Click. Click click.

... Nothing.

Aelita strained to her something else —anything else— but there was silence. No wait. Footsteps.

Before she knew what was going on, the door swung open, making her jump back, and Jeremie came casually out, heading probably to the cafeteria. Aelita held her breath, as he walked down the hallway, not moving a muscle until he was out of sight down the stairs.

She let her breath out. Wow. She couldn't believe he hadn't seen her. All it would have taken was a wayward glance behind the door and she would have been busted. Phew. That was a close call.

Now, she turned back to look at her destination— his room, with the door wide open— it was time to fulfill the task at hand.

_Oh Jeremie, so careless. You know you really should be more careful. If you just leave your door open like that, somebody unexpected is bound to come creeping in..._

~END~

A/N:

I know it sounds a bit sinister at the end there but don't worry, Aelita's just doing what she thinks is right. Btw there's a poll on my profile so if you wouldn't mind checking it out... Nudge nudge, wink wink. Please review!


	5. Chapter 5

Her fingers flew across the keyboard as fast as they would go without making that annoying clicking noise. Glazed eyes reflected the widows flying across the screen, as Aelita finished up what she was doing.

There. Done.

She rose from Jeremie's desk chair with a sigh, and cleared the desktop before leaving. Behind her she pushed the door closed, but made sure to still leave it open a crack, so that people wouldn't get suspicious. Jeremie's door was hardly ever closed —except when he was asleep, or other times early in the morning. After that he would always be to preoccupied to remember something pointless like closing a door. It was like pushing your chair in after you leave the classroom. You were supposed to do it, but most people didn't bother. And that's how Jeremie saw closing doors.

Aelita tiptoe-ran to the stairs, then after that was home free heading to the cafeteria for some dinner. After all, all it would take was to tell a white lie to her friends —they wouldn't suspect a thing— and go on with life.

It sounded bad when she thought of it like that, lying to her friends, but it wasn't anything bad. She had done the right thing. Aelita kept walking.

Had she really? Maybe it was better to go back and change it. She stopped in her tracks for a minute.

Wait? What am I thinking? Of course it was the right thing to do. Aelita was already in the courtyard, and she quickly began to walk again, hoping not too many people had noticed her pause to check her grip on reality.

All she had done to Jeremie's computer was tweaked the program that scanned for activated towers. That's it.

• • •

After diner, Aelita went back to her room and checked the computer. On her screen it showed that a tower had been activated, now she just had to wait and see if Jeremie's computer did its part. Lets hope the plan worked.

She checked the time. 7:15. Jeremie should be getting back to his room right about now.

There was silence, as she waited, listening to the clock tick, watching the non-existant paint dry. Minute after minute, and still nothing happened. Aelita picked up her cell, no new messages or missed calls.

Five minutes later Aelita stopped holding her breath and figured it had worked. If it hadn't, Jeremie would have come into his dorm and immediately seen the activated tower, then called everyone, or at least her, and gotten it deactivated. But he didn't, so it must have worked, and his computer didn't message him about the activated tower.

She hadn't done it to annoy Jeremie, or the others, she'd done it to spare them. And XANA.

It was obvious that he was weak, and these second-rate activated towers were just a way to gain some power back. After all it must not be easy for Xana. His whole secret bunker was destroyed, no thanks to Tyron and his last attack. So what was a virus supposed to do?

When he activated a tower he didn't ever launch an attack, which to Aelita had been a dead give away. She could just imagine it. Instead of saying, 'oh rats you spoiled my plan again', when they deactivated a tower, it was probably more like, ' *sigh* ok. I guess I'll just try again later'. There were no thrills and spills and there was no danger. Non-existant thought behind a non-existant plot to be evil and rule the world.

Aelita just wanted to return the favor and help Xana settle back in. As soon as there was the slightest hint of an attack, she would call it off tell the others, and reinstall the program back onto Jeremie's computer. But until then, she could let it slide.

Maybe it was selfish and lazy of her, not wanting to get out there and deactivate those towers, but sometimes it just didn't feel like the right thing to do. Or maybe lying to her friends wasn't the right thing to do.

Ugh, she hated being so conflicted. And worse was the fact that she had no one to bounce ideas off of. Usually there would be Jeremie, or Odd, or any other of her friends, but she couldn't exactly tell them the whole scenario now, could she?

Aelita sighed, and decided that she was very indecisive, but tonight she'd let it go. She'd sleep on it.

• • •

Aelita tossed and turned a little bit, much like the thoughts jumbled in her brain. She woke up at one point, and saw on the computer that Xana had taken advantage of the situation and activated two more towers. Aelita took mental note of this, and shortly afterwards rolled over and fell back asleep, straight into a restless and confusing dream.

_She was there, in a long dark corridor, all alone. It was cold, and she could scarcely see. Turning around, she noticed a small light at the end of the tunnel, and decided to follow it._

_As she walked, her footsteps echoed loudly in an eerie way, making her more anxious to reach her destination. As Aelita got closer she could see a silloette forming in the doorway of light, and she broke into a run._

_Who was it? Her dream self seemed to know, but in reality she had no idea._

_Just as she was about to make out the person's face, suddenly flames rose from the ground and begun engulfing the walls._

_The pillars of the room began collapsing, blocking Aelita's path, and leaving the whole room less and less secure. Breaking into a sprint now, she hurdled over a fallen pillar and avoided little crumbs of the ceiling that came raining down, she was desperate to reach the person at the end of the hall._

_She ran, ignoring the fire nipping at her face, feeling the temperature rise as if she had just walked into a sauna, but she needed to get to the person. __She didn't know why it was so important to her but it felt like a situation between life or death._

_Aelita could see the person, she was getting closer, i-it looked like Jeremie, she was sure it was him. Run! She yelled to herself._

_The fire followed, flying in and out of her way as she ran. Nothing else mattered, for that moment it was just her and she needed to get to Jeremie._

_She was almost there, just a few steps away. A final post fell, nearly trapping her underneath it, but she managed to jump out of the way in time._

_Aelita picked herself up in desperation, with tears in her eyes that she hadn't noticed before, she ran to Jeremie but just as she reached him, he changed. It wasn't Jeremie standing before her anymore, it was XANA._

~END~

A/N

I know I know! It's been so long! Sorry you guys but my writing inspiration kicked the bucket and I've been stuck in a never ending void of not being able to write for the past week. Torture I tell you!

So anyways I finally scrounged up something, I hope you liked it, and you'll definitely hear from me soon because I think my writing itch is back. On another note that I forgot to mention last chapter, I'm following the rules of CL not CLE in the fact that Aelita is still the only one who can deactivate towers. Please review! :p


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